Repeating History
by DoomedRomance
Summary: Buffy's dreams lead her to Roswell, NM but she doesn't know why she's there until she meets Liz.  Short, sappy one-shot.


Repeating History

_Disclaimer - I don't own anything. I write for the pleasure of writing and make no money from it._

_I am new to Roswell and am making my way through the episodes by way of Netflix. This story popped into my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote it._

_I know the timeline doesn't match up, that Roswell was before Buffy, but for the purposes of this story just pretend it does._

Buffy pulled her rental car into the parking place on the street and put it in park. Then, she turned to look at the small diner across the street. She pulled her sunglasses off with a sigh and laid them on the seat beside her.

She got out of the car and walked across the street toward the diner, The Crashdown, all the time wondering why she was here. "Stupid dreams." she said out loud.

They had started two weeks ago and were a nightly occurrence. She couldn't ignore them anymore even though she had no idea why she supposed to come to Roswell, New Mexico. In her dreams she could see this diner and somehow knew she was supposed to come here, that it was important.

"Not like I don't have more important things to do." she though sullenly. After the Sunnydale sinkhole, everyone had been so busy. They set up a new headquarters in Cleveland, home of the new hellmouth, and all of the gang was scattered around the world trying to find the new slayers. Two years later, they were still looking. She had been in Rome when the dreams started. After trying to ignore them had gotten her nowhere, she researched Roswell. Although it seemed like a tourist trap for the UFO nuts, she found herself wondering if the small town wasn't suffering from the same syndrome as Sunnydale had, anything they couldn't understand didn't happen and no one remembered it.

She stepped into The Crashdown and felt like she had stepped into a 50's diner. There were booths and tables and a counter with stools. The only difference was this place seemed to be obsessed with aliens. Even the waitress outfits sported alien eyes.

Buffy shook her head and started to thing she was going crazy. Why would the PTBs want her here?

She sat down in a booth near the back of the diner and started to observe the people. The lunch rush was over and there were only a couple of customers remaining and they looked like they would be leaving at any time if the emptiness of their plates was any indication.

She turned her attention to the staff. One of the waitresses, a pretty blonde teenager, seemed to be arguing with the guy in the kitchen. He, too, looked to be around 17 or 18 and was gorgeous. He definitely had the bad boy thing going on and it looked good on him.

Unsurprisingly, the other waitress was also a teenager. She was brunette and still held an air of innocence about her but she looked really sad.

As Buffy watched, the only other customers in the diner came up to the bar and handed their check to the brunette. Buffy watched as she smiled and said something to the men as she rang up the order and took their money. She said all the right things and smiled at all the right times, but Buffy could tell all was not right with this girl. Could this teenager be the reason she was here? She wasn't a slayer. Buffy was close enough that she could have sensed it.

Blondie was still arguing with the cook when the brunette girl came over to her table. Her slayer hearing allowed her to hear the argument was something about what was considered an appropriate gift.

"Welcome to The Crashdown." she said with a smile. "What can I get for you today?"

Buffy had been so intent on watching the people she hadn't even picked up a menu. Besides, she wasn't here for food.

"I'll take diet whatever you have and an order of cheese fries."

The brunette, her nametag said 'Liz', wrote down the order and said, "Ok, we'll have it for you in just a few minutes."

"Thanks."

Liz walked over to where Maria and Michael were still arguing.

"Knock it off you two." Liz said as she handed the order slip to Michael. "Argue later."

Maria turned around and walked behind the bar in huff while Michael grabbed the paper and turned his back to both of them.

Maria had a cloth and was trying to rub a hole through counter when Liz walked back there to get Buffy's drink.

Liz brought Buffy's drink and handed it to her with smile. Then she walked back around the bar to speak to Blondie and Buffy shamelessly listened to the conversation.

"Maria? Are you okay?" Liz asked. 'So, Blondie's name is Maria.' Buffy thought.

Maria gave a little huff. "I'm fine. I just don't understand Michael sometimes." 'And Michael is the kitchen hottie.'

"Well, you knew being with him wouldn't be easy." Liz told her.

"I know, I just…" Maria began and trailed off when she couldn't seem to find the words.

"Look." Liz began. "You two will work it out just like you always do and everything will be fine."

"Yeah, until the next fight." Maria responded.

About that time the bell above the door sounded and one of the most good looking guys Buffy had ever seen walked through the door. Now, she usually went for the bad boy, but this guy, wow. If she were a few years younger she may have been tempted to have a go at him.

"Max." Liz said in breathy voice and the light bulb went off in Buffy's head. She said his name the same way she said Angel's. This had to be why she was here.

"Liz" Max replied and again it was like hearing Angel say her name, a mixture of hurt and longing and love.

"What are you doing here?" Liz asked.

"We need to have a meeting later." Max said in low voice, like he didn't want anyone to hear. Since Buffy was the only customer, she was betting he lowered his voice because of her. Too bad for him she could still him perfectly.

"Oh." Liz said. "Is this about…"

"Yes, it is." Max cut her off. "Tell Michael and Maria and we'll meet here when the diner closes tonight."

Liz nodded, "Okay, I'll tell them."

"Thanks." Max looked like he wanted to say more, but decided against it. He turned and walked out of the diner.

Buffy watched Liz watch Max walk out. The look on her face was heartbreaking. She looked like her entire life was walking out that door.

Marie must have seen the same thing because she walked up behind Liz and hugged her. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" Maria asked her.

Liz was trying not cry. "Because it has to be this way." Liz told her. "His destiny is with Tess, not me."

Buffy involuntarily stiffened at Liz's response. Destiny was a curse word for her. Destiny had screwed her life up too many times.

"It just doesn't seem right to me." Maria told her. "You still love him and he obviously still loves you."

"It can't work with us Maria. You know that. He belongs with Tess. The future of his world and ours depends on it."

'His world and ours?' Buffy thought. 'There is definitely more to these people than meets the eye.'

Liz and Maria lapsed into silence after that and busied themselves filling salt and ketchup containers.

Michael dinged the bell to let Liz know her order was up and she moved out from behind the bar to get Buffy's food.

Liz smiled as she handed Buffy her food but Buffy could tell it was forced. She was certain she knew what she was here for now.

"Care to join me?" Buffy asked her.

"I really should get back to work?" Liz told her, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

Buffy looked around the diner. "Yeah, looks like you're really swamped." she said with a bit of sarcasm.

Liz looked uncomfortable and unsure what to say. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation." Buffy told her and watched as fear flashed across Liz's face. Buffy was more positive than ever that something was going on with these people but she also knew she didn't want or need the details.

"Don't worry, I didn't overhear any secrets. I want to talk to you about Max."

Liz stuttered. "W-W-What do you know about Max?"

"I know you love him and he loves you but for some reason you think you shouldn't be together." At Liz's look she continued, "I told you I overheard your conversation. Now, sit down. We need to talk."

Liz looked unsure for a moment but she sat down across from Buffy.

"What do you want to talk about?" Liz asked her with false bravado.

Buffy took just a moment to study Liz. She had spirit but at this time she seemed so beaten down.

"I know what you're going through." Buffy began only to see Liz immediately start shaking her head.

"I don't think you do." Liz told her. "It's complicated."

Buffy sighed. "It's always complicated." Buffy told her. "Trust me when I say you don't hold the patent on complicated."

"You don't understand everything." Liz persisted.

"No, I don't and I don't need to for what I need to tell you." Buffy told her.

"Okay, what is it? I'm listening." Liz told her but Buffy thought it was more of Liz wanted to get away from her than she really believed Buffy could say anything useful.

"I want to tell you a story." Buffy began. "It's about this guy, we'll call him Liam and this girl, we'll call her Elizabeth.

At the beginning of our story Elizabeth is 16 and Liam is… older. They meet and fall in love. Life is wonderful for a while. They do everything together from the normal everyday stuff to some dangerous adventures. In fact, he saves her life more than once and she returns the favor several times. He was everything to her.

But, their lives were far from normal. It doesn't matter how they weren't normal. Its enough to know it wasn't typical, which mean their problems weren't typical.

Still, for a while they got through it. They made it through the bad times and made some wonderful memories.

But, as often happens, life threw them a huge curve ball and everything went to hell. Again, the wherefores and whys don't matter.

Now, Elizabeth believes they can get through it like they have all the other times. But, Liam believes that Elizabeth's destiny doesn't include him. He breaks her heart and leaves her, moves to another town because he thinks it will be easier for her if she doesn't have to see him around town."

"What happened to them?" Liz asked, tears beginning to shimmer as she saw the parallels between Liam and Elizabeth and Max and her.

Buffy gave a sad shrug. "They both tried to move on. She had several disastrous relationships which never lasted for very long. They simply weren't him. He was lured back to an evil ex-girlfriend which didn't end well for anyone."

"Did they ever see each other again?" Liz interrupted.

"A few times." Buffy told her with sad smile. "But it was never the same. They still loved each other but things were so awkward and uncomfortable between them that the visits were short and tense."

"What happened to them?" Liz asked as single tear slid down her face.

"He died." Buffy told her and her voice cracked a little. "He died because she wasn't there to save him and she never forgave herself for that."

"What about her destiny?" Liz asked Buffy. "He left her because of her destiny. Did it work?"

Buffy shook her head. "That destiny stuff is crap. Yes, she had a job to do, something she couldn't run away from but he not being there made that job harder, not easier. What he didn't understand is that they were stronger together."

Two more tears ran down Liz's face. "So he gave it all up for nothing?"

"I wouldn't say nothing." Buffy told her. "While he away from her he helped a lot of people and so did she, but what they will never know is how many more they could have saved if they had stayed together, if he hadn't died that day."

"Why are you telling me this?" Liz questioned.

"Because I don't want history to repeat itself." Buffy said as she pulled a 20 out of her purse and laid it on the table.

Buffy stood up and looked down at Liz. "You know that old saying about loving someone enough to let them go? Well, I'm here to tell you its crap. If two people love each other that much, it's worth the fight to stay together. If one of them has a destiny, the other should be there to help them fulfill it, not weaken them by leaving them confused and hurting."

Buffy didn't look back as she left the diner and got in her car.

After Buffy left, Liz walked over to Maria who had been standing with Michael watching as Buffy told her story.

"Who was that?" Michael asked Liz.

"I don't know." Liz replied. "She never told me her name."

"What did she want?" Maria asked.

"To tell me a story." Liz said. "Listen, there's something I need to do. Can you guys hold the fort for a while?"

"Sure." Maria replied, "But where are you going?"

"To make sure history doesn't repeat itself." Liz replied with a sad smile.


End file.
